I will give you my two cents. When I first started bowhunting I was the type that wanted the new stuff as well. I thought it would make me a better hunter. Fact is though while technology has improved immensely the only thing that has really made me any better was practice shooting from different angles and distance, in differing conditions and time spent in the woods. I am certain that I could take the cheapest compound bow with the cheapest equipment and have far better success now than I did twenty years ago......ten years ago....even five years ago. Those gold tip hunters are as good as an arrow as anybody will ever need.

Tex-O-Bob had a word that he used often when he frequented the forum.

"WOODSMANSHIP"

He hunted with a recurve, handmade arrows and plain old wool clothing that did the job. The real difference is knowing your equipment and knowing how to hunt. Giving yourself the best opportunity through preparation and experience will never be trumped by an extra 20 feet per second or groupings that could potentially be a just a tad tighter.

 

Thanks mule! To be honest, the day I got my buck on the extended I just planned to glass. Was wore out from hiking. Had my gym clothes in the truck. So no deer, which was rare. Decided to hike a steep face to a bench, knew if I was really up there for a deer I gotta get my butt out the truck. I got him wearing blue jeans and a dirty birds waterfowl hoodie. Only day I wasn't actually ready to hunt and it worked out the best. So your point is taken. I knew simplistic was working for me, just didn't know if I was REALLY missing out on something.

 

There you go. The older I get the more I think simplicity is what we are missing out on. I am reminded of it far more often now days.

 

I run the XT hunters as I want a little better straightness and tolerance. Depending on how long your finished arrows are you can get them 1 grade straighter just by how you build them. If you cut even amounts off both ends of the arrows before you fletch them you can usually bring a .005 arrow to a .003 straightness and a .003 to a .001 straightness. This is because most of the bad tolerance is towards the ends. So if you shoot a 28 inch arrow trim 2 inches off both ends and then fletch.
I have never been a big fan of the really high end arrows and doubt I shoot good enough to notice. I do however have a very limited amount of wall space left for critter heads
I do suggest getting a good mid-range arrow to all as they will take less to get grouping and tune.

Welcome to the obsession.

 

I have been shooting Gold tips since I started bow hunting back in 2002. I have switched to Easton arrows one year because they was cheater. Well that was a mistake.I could not get them to group very well and they was breaking to easy. So i went back to gold tips arrows. I have shoot the pro hunters xt hunters and the velocity. all three grouped really well and shot great. I loved shooting the velocity arrows. but I had to go back to the xt hunters because of a little money at the time of buying arrows. Stay with the Gold tips and you will be happier with them. they are stronger arrows.

 

I've used about every arrow ever made. After 35 years of trying all the 'tips and tricks' for arrows I'm back to where I started, buying a dozen pre-fletched and cut to length off the shelf at the shop

I've dropped to a 27.5" 60 lbs draw with the oldmanitis and need a little faster arrow so I don't have to be so perfect on judging distance in the heat of the moment. The Gold Tip Pro Hunters with 100 grain tips are 280 fps for me and shoot better than I can tell anymore.

If you don't shoot as well as you'd like yet, the XT Hunters will be more than adequate. I just found that you get more near perfect arrows out of a dozen with the Pro Hunters. Save all your less than stellar arrows for the archery golf tournaments coming up next month down at Eagle Mtn

Cheers,
Pete

 

When I shoot my wheel Bow GoldTip Hunters, Beman ICS Hunters. Alium Eastons 2117 2219. Wood and GoldTip Wood Grain 35 to 55 Carbons..Some of the Newer Arrows I feel are way out there on price..

 

I shoot the Sportsmans brand arrow cheaper and they are made by Gold Tip has the logo on the knocks and everything but are less expensive. They shoot great i have never had an issue whith them at all.

 

Arrows
1. Straighter is better especially when your attaching broadheads. If you haven't nocked tunned your arrows and attach broadheads your groups can open up.

2. Straightness does matter when nock tunning your arrows to your bow! If you shoot a dozen arrows through paper you may get a dozen different paper tears. Straighter arrows have always tunned easier for me and my kids.

3. Nock tunning arrows isn't for people with poor form, to long of draw, to much poundage for shooters ect!

4. Thinner heavier arrows have a better ballistic coefficient and drift less in the wind at longer distances!

5. Speed really doesn't mean anything because you should be able to judge distance close enough out to 40 yards to kill a deer size animal. Anything past 40 and you need a legit range. No matter how fast your bow shoots arrows arc pretty good past 40.

6. Alpine hit on cutting from both ends of a cheaper shaft to straighten them up. This can be done if you know which end is crooked. If the run out is in the middle cutting from both ends will straighten them out. If it's only on one end it is better to cut that end off. If you have a short draw you don't need the expensive arrows.

7. Again all this stuff about arrows won't do a hill a beans if your form is gacked up, over bowed ect. It's all stuff to improve your groups at distance. At normal bowhunting distances say 40 yards and under it doesn't matter.

8. Tunning thinner, heavier, straighter arrows is exactly the same thing as reloading a longer heavier bullets for tight groups. If your deer is shot at a hundred yards with a rifle you could have 3" groups or worse and still kill it. However at 500 yards or more you can't guarantee an ethical hit.



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Gold tip arrows are fantastic hunting arrows!

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Two things about aluminum arrows.
1. They typically can be bought or built straighter with less work.

2. Now for the bad news. Aluminum will degrade due to metal fatigue. You can only bend aluminum so much before the spine turns to crap and your groups open up.

If you shoot alot a season is about all the accuracy you'll get out of aluminum. With carbon arrows it can be years of shooting because they don't degrade like aluminum. Carbon arrows are either broken or good kind of like a good fishing rod.

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Aren't Gold Tip carbon? Or you just speaking generally about aluminum?

The Easton are clearly a thinner arrow, are they the thinner heavier arrow you refer to?

 

Generally speaking about aluminumn arrows. Gold tips are carbon and they also have skinny arrows look at the Kenitics or the new Pierce. https://www.goldtip.com/productdetail.aspx?ptid=193

I believe easton axis are also carbon.

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I started playing with bows and arrows when I was in grade school, hunting carp. That was probably around 1966 or 67. I have been big game bow hunting since 1975. At least, that was when I bought my first hunting bow (recurve). I have seen a lot of change in arrows during that time and shot a lot of arrows. I keep coming back to the Gold Tips any more. Do a U-Tube search on GoldTip arrows. Tim Gillingham did a video on the different grades and how to sort them and get the best straightness. Very Informative. I used to buy the Gold Tip pro's. After seeing his video, I will buy the lesser grades. Tim is a sales rep for Gold Tip. It is surprising that he would recommend the lesser grade over the Pro's, but he does. The only advantage I have found with the Gold Tip Pro's is the weight tolerances. Generally they vary only 2 grains from heaviest to lightest in a dozen. Gold tips are by far the toughest arrow I have ever owned. But, when it comes to consistency in grouping, Aluminum shoots tighter groups for me.

 

But, when it comes to consistency in grouping, Aluminum shoots tighter groups for me.

Aluminum can be bought straighter BUT
This is only short lived because of metal fatigue. Means you will be buying arrows more often. Once you get metal fatigue which can come once a season no ammount of nock tunning will bring the arrow back in the center of the group. Serious target archers who shoot aluminumn arrows always have a practice set and competition set. They junk them all after the season. So if your using x10 arrows your out 450 to 600 bucks a year. Gets expensive!

If you nock tune your gold tips they will shoot just as good as aluminum and last ten times as long "no metal fatigue." Get the pros and you don't need to nock tune as much. When an arrow is bent it typically has a natural flex to the side its bent on "dynamic spine." If you haven't lined the dynamic spine up they won't flex the same way out of your bow and the groups open up. Let me clarify that the "dynamic spine" is not nessarly the bent side on all arrows. It's also not the spine of the arrow. Dynamic spine is the side the arrow wants to natural flex under load. However I find if I spin my arrows under my modified spine testing machine and I line up all the bent sides it saves a considerable amount of time nock tunning my arrows. Say 9 or 10 out of 12 will shoot the same hole. The other 2 or 3 will need to be nock tunned.

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